 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: peter99
Date: 2004-04-30 10:26
I am an relative beginner to the clarinet, taking it up later in life. I don't know whether this question has been covered before but I would like to know if the "sound" that I hear from my clarinet is the same as what my audience hear.
I ask this question because I know how different my normal speaking voice sounds when I hear it recorded to what I hear when I actually speak. Does this same phenomena occur to any degree with the clarinet and what other people hear from my playing is different to what I hear.
Any comments would be welcome.
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Author: Dan1937
Date: 2004-04-30 11:59
Peter:
If by "sound" you mean pitch, articulation, etc., my answer would be "yes". If you are referring to tone quality, there is a significant difference between what you hear (due to vibration being conducted through your teeth and jawbone to your ears) and what your audience hears, because they simply get the sound through their ears, without the tooth and bone conduction. The reason is the same as that which makes your voice sound different to you.
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Author: peter99
Date: 2004-04-30 12:30
Dan:
Thanks for that comment. Actually by "sound" I really meant TONE, I would expect the pitch, articulation, etc., to be the same.
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Author: graham
Date: 2004-04-30 12:44
In addition to the tooth/bone aspects there are the acoustic effects of the room and the issue of relative juxtaposition to other instruments (that is, you are very close to your own instrument, but they are only as close to you as they are to the other instruments (on average)). A key discrepancy can therefore relate to projection. What may sound smooth and natural to you in your practice room could be dull and difficult to hear in a concert hall with other instruments playing. A brighter more projecting sound often comes over better than it feels it is when you play.
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2004-04-30 12:51
Graham is correct.
Bonade knew this....when asked by a nearby player at recording session "you dont sound ok, where did your sound go" (paraphrased)
he said "it is out there {points to far away} wait for the playback"
On playback it was great.
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Author: sinkdraiN
Date: 2004-04-30 17:38
No- When you sit next to even a very good violinist he or she may seem "scratchy." If you move to the end of the room its a beautiful sound. A lot of the sound you hear is vibrations from the mouthpiece in your head. The sensations in the fingertips also affect what you think you sound like. When testing new instruments or mouthpieces I often record myself on a minidisc recorder to get a more accurate perception.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2004-04-30 18:13
In my opinion you certainly are not hearing the tone you produce the way someone at the back of the concert hall hears it...in a small room yes, but concert hall no. This is one of the more mysterious misperceptions that cavort about in musicians heads...an orchestral player also relies a good deal on the discretion of the conductor just how much clarinet is needed at a given time. A bad conductor will not care whatsoever.
As to tone production and colour you are probably a better judge of it onstage than you think as well....as for me I tend to play a bit brighter when the clarinet needs to emerge, but of course without sacrificing pitch and depth of tone. A tendency of many students is to play sharper but without body of sound when they feel they have to push the sound to project...this sadly can lead to technical problems. This is also an element that a fine teacher can work on with more advanced and even beginning students.
At the moment I am preparing my students for a music festival ...with the younger beginners I warn them that they will sound small once they appear on the larger concert stage...so I tell them to play the pianos a bit louder and with good focus....too soft a sound will be wasted in inaugibility....
As to working environments..different stages do tend to give the player a better read on the sound. However, this is my personal feeling. When our orchestra does it's next series I will be performing in 3 different concert hall...one of which is extremely dead and requires a much brighter coloured sound so I tend to use different reed for this hall.
As to projection it is a matter of good support and finding the right reed with the facing...also alot of practicing goes a long way as well. The trick is to project with a nice pure ring and a full sonority.
David Dow
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Author: ned
Date: 2004-05-01 01:24
No, it's subtly different.
Try playing out in to a room for a test and then playing up closely to a wall or mirror, it will sound different.
Speaking of mirrors, I use one sometimes when I am trying out new or difficult fingering or testing for tone (see above).
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Author: ned
Date: 2004-05-01 01:28
""When our orchestra does it's next series I will be performing in 3 different concert hall...one of which is extremely dead and requires a much brighter coloured sound so I tend to use different reed for this hall. ""
I have not found the perfect solution to this dilemma, so I tend to stay with the same (jazz) setup and put upwith the inconsistiencies.
I'd be interested to know what setup you use for really dead acoustics though?
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